Donhee Ham
Harvard University
Brain, Copy and Paste
Reverse engineering the brain by imitating the structure and function of neuronal networks on a semiconductor electronic chip was the original pursuit of neuromorphic engineering, but remains difficult. The focus of neuromorphic engineering has thus
been shifted from the rigorous imitation of the biological neuronal network to designs inspired by the network’s overall qualitative features. In this talk, Ham shared his vision that returns neuromorphic electronics to its original
pursuit, the brain reverse engineering. The essence is to ‘copy’ the functional synaptic connectivity map of a mammalian neuronal network using a breakthrough neuroelectronic interface that massively parallelizes the intracellular
neuronal recording and then ‘paste’ this map onto a state-of-the-art network of non-volatile solid-state memories. This approach to download the biological synaptic connectivity map may one day create a solid-state electronic chip
that better approximates the computing abilities of the brain.